I Fell
by effulgentcolors
Summary: Based on this tumblr prompt: the return of Killian's hand was only temporary and Emma does silly things to cheer him up.


She was being ridiculous. He knew what she was doing and he loved her even more for it (_she's not ready to hear it yet, mate_!) but she was being ridiculous and she needed to stop.

He was pretty sure she had left half the chocolate sauce from her pancakes all over her mouth just because she knew he loved kissing it off her. He was certain she had worn that low-cut sweater on purpose. She had actually gone as far as sticking her tongue out at him behind her father's back earlier today!

"Aaaalright! Blanket? Check. Copious amount of popcorn? Check. Hot chocolate spiced with rum, you know you have forever ruined that for me, right? Anyway, check. _The Princess Bride_? Check."

Emma jumped over the couch, landing half in his lap, half on the cushions, hair flying all around her in disarray. He wanted to brush it away from her face but his hand was trapped beneath her legs and for the first time he couldn't bring himself to do it with his hook. Not anymore. Not when he knew what it felt like to do it with his left hand.

The blonde sighed as a shadow passed over his face, her hand reaching up to brush _his _hair off his forehead.

"Killian, I-"

What could she say really? What could she do to take away his pain? She hated feeling like this. Helpless, useless, unable to help him or even to cheer him up as it would seem.

"Do you wanna go out?" she asked eventually, tangling her fingers with his and tugging lightly to get his attention.

"No, lass, we made plans, right?"

"_I _made plans, you went along with it."

"Well, I'm perfectly content with the arrangement."

"But what do _you_ wanna do?" asked Emma, jumping up suddenly. "We can go to Granny's. Or we can go to the docks, I'd even help you 'borrow' a boat. I can call Regina and arrange for Henry to come along! Oh, there's karaoke at the Rabbit Hole on Sundays. That's like… they play music and you sing in front of everyone. But everyone is just drunk and making fun of everyone else so it doesn't matter how or what you sing and- Or! We can even go out of town! David's at the station all day tomorrow and Regina will be more than happy to keep Henry for another day. Or-"

"Emma," Killian reached out, grabbing her hand and tugging her forward until she was forced to sit back down, straddling his hips, her warmth seeping into him (and they had done _that_ already but just a couple of times and it was so new; _he thought it would always be new_). "Take a breath, lass."

Emma rolled her eyes at him, inhaling and exhaling theatrically before giving him a look that said 'now what?'.

Killian grinned at her, giving her another sharp tug, and capturing her mouth in a quick kiss as soon as she tumbled towards him.

"Swan, you know I don't really care what we're doing as long as we're doing it together, right?" he asked sincerely.

"Yeah, but I just…"

Her free hand unconsciously reached over, taking his hook and causing him to flinch away.

"Don't do that?" Emma said with a frown.

"I-"

"I don't _care_. You know that, right?" she continued over him, studying him carefully until a sudden look of apprehension dawned on her face.

"Emma-" he started, his expression pained.

"Oh God!" Emma pulled back, leaning away from him but keeping a firm hold on his hand and hook so she didn't fall over. "I thought you just- You think it matters to _me_? Killian, I couldn't care less if you had two hands, three hands or no hands at all."

The pirate gave her a look, a half-hearted smirk tugging at his lips.

"You rather like what I can do to you with my hand, Swan."

"Shut up! You know what I mean."

"I really don't. Surely it matters that-"

"It doesn't!"

"-I can't even hold your hand," he finished anyway, giving her a pointed look.

"You are holding both my hands just fine right now," Emma replied, lifting a challenging eyebrow. "If you weren't I would have fallen over by now. Literally."

"Ah, but what if I'm more concerned with your falling figuratively?" he said teasingly, just trying to lighten the mood.

"You didn't need two hands for that either," shot back Emma before she could think her words through, eyes widening in alarm as soon as they were out of her mouth.

"I- _What_?" Killian's imitation of a deer caught in the headlights wasn't too bad either.

"I-I-" Emma stuttered, watching him for a few seconds with a weird combination of horror, awe and love on her face before a sudden wave of resolve washed over her features. "I fell in love with you."

The note of wonder in her voice was amplified tenfold in Killian's heart as he tried to make sense of what she was telling him. He had been fighting for this and he intended to keep doing so but he surely didn't expect… Especially not now when it had been made so glaringly obviously just how much he _lacked_, how much he had to find a way to compensate for, to…

"And I fell in love with you when you had one hand and I loved you when you had two and I love you still now," said Emma, her voice stronger now, leaning back towards him and holding his gaze, imploring him to believe her.

Killian tugged her all the way into him, arms sneaking around her as he held her close, nose buried in her hair and breathing in her scent.

"I love you too. And I will love you through anything," he whispered reverently.

"Me too."

He pulled back, lips immediately finding hers, hand sweeping over her cheek and down her neck to come to rest over her heart. And when he looked up and saw a stray lock of hair he reached up with his hook and tucked it away without hesitation.


End file.
